The Phoenix of Konoha
by Create-tion
Summary: What would a daughter of the famous Flash and Habenaro of Konoha be like? Would it be possible for twins to grow up without one another yet impossibly alike? Why does this woman have Itachi's necklace wound around her wrist? Can Naruto be reunited with his sister or will she turn away from him in fear? Can Sasuke unite the siblings or will he be sidetracked by her blinding spirit?
1. The Meeting

Houou-Pheonix

The water around the swamp rose and swelled with the wind blowing around Houou's legs. They dangled over the cresting edge of the lake as she watched the birds overhead circle the trees. Her eyes were falling shut, but from where Shikamaru was hidden, he could still see the evanescent turquoise glow radiating in the reflection of the sunlight filtering over her. Her golden hair was streaked with one vibrant flamed strip of red which she had wound back on the top of her head in a bun. She had tried to keep it tied tightly back but he could see tiny spiked patches catching loose. Sasuke shifted beside him where they were crouched low in the marshy bog watching her. He felt uncomfortable; mostly because it was very clear that this female was everything they had feared. There was no mistaking the shared eye and hair color as the rumors had said. Sasuke had no doubt that this was in fact Naruto's sibling. The story had started shortly after the fourth war had ended and they'd returned to rebuild the village. It had been said that in the rampage and devastation of the villages across the ninja country that some prisoners from the Mist had escaped their cells. This woman…this girl who looked so much like Naruto…had escaped from a highly contained cell underground beneath the village. It had been theorized that upon seeing her by accident, Yamato had happened a glance at her on an offshore peace treaty assignment, that they had to investigate. Shikamaru and Sasuke had been sent in as recon. Sasuke shifted again impatiently and sighed earning a glare from Shikmaru. He made a gesture at the Uchiha to be silent as another person approached the girl where she sat.

"Houou." The man put his hands in his pockets standing behind her. He took in a long breath with a cigarette hanging from his teeth as he watched her stare over the water.

"What do you want?" she asked her voice devoid of much emotion other than annoyance.

"The Mizukage would like to discuss your alliance with the village." That comment earned a snorting sound to which the girl rolled her eyes before shutting them.

"She makes it sound like I have a choice." She laughed again leaning herself back on her elbows. Sasuke watched as the evergreen tank top she wore stretched as she lay.

"You do have a choice. You always have a choice." He kneeled down putting a finger on her forehead. "You can go home now. She can't keep you here. Not now. If she did it could start another war." Houou opened her bright incandescent eyes to look up at the man.

"Where would be my home?" she smirked lopsided. "The village that I was taken from, the place where I was raised, or the prison I was caged in?" he frowned hearing the darkness inside her words.

"The Hokage would welcome you there…your brother would welcome you there." She flinched jerking upright and refused to look at the man. She kept her eyes on the lake now sternly and angrily trying to burn her emotions there.

"I don't know that I can be anywhere near him." She stated flatly. "As far as I know, if I go near him, he will die."

"We don't know that. We don't know that what you learned through the Akatsuki was true." Her hands balled into fists at her sides.

"I won't risk that. I will not go to Konoha where he is finally safe for him to die because I was too weak to stay away." Tears filmed at the edges of her eyes.

"You spent entirely too much time around that boy." Sasuke raised an eyebrow frowning. He noticed the glint of a silver chain with three small circles wrapped around her wrist.

"You don't have the right to speak about him. So I suggest you shut your mouth."

Once the words had come from her lips Shikamaru had not been able to turn the Uchiha back from the mission. They had only been there to collect information and head back. The problem was that Sasuke was extremely hard headed and now that they'd both taken notice of Itachi's necklace wound over the girl's wrist there was no turning back. He sighed watching the Uchiha silently slide the window open to Houou's apartment which they'd followed her to after her training session. He maneuvered himself inside and the boy genius followed after. It was hard to deny Sasuke this one small thing after everything they now knew he'd been through. It was hard to tell him no when that girl wore his brother's necklace. It was a small piece of reality that Shikamaru knew if it were him he'd want answers. He followed the boy further inside the dark apartment where the moon shone through a slanted blind over a hallway window.

The bedroom door was cracked open lightly. Sasuke hardly moved the hinges as he opened it a fraction wider to go inside. Shikamaru looked over his shoulder to see a small room with one window hanging over the bed. There were no blinds on this window and the full moon crossed over her body fully illuminating her for them. She'd kicked the sheets off her body and they were tangled around her thin ankles. Sasuke saw that she slept only in short sleeved shirt that rested just above her navel with a bikini shaped undergarment not unlike the bathing suits he'd seen Sakura wear in the summer. One leg was gently bent over the other as she laid on her side hugging her pillow. He saw that her golden hair had come loose from its bun and was littered around her head like a molten mess. It covered her face in strings but he could still see her face gently resting as she slept. It was too bad that he had an undying need to understand why she wore his brother's necklace that he'd have to use his Sharingan to filter through her memories. He neared the bed and hovered over her. She was clutching the pillow tightly her hand holding the necklace in a balled up wad rather than having it wrapped around her wrist as before. Why did she have it?

"If we're going to do this…we need to do it now." Shikamaru whispered. Sasuke nodded.

"Hold her still, I'll lock her into it." The shadow master nodded and made the hand signs to catch the girl as she laid on the bed. Instantly her eyes snapped open and a breath escaped her parted lips. Sasuke grabbed her chin, trying to force himself to be gentle, and caught her inside his genjutsu.

(inside the jutsu)

Houou stiffened being sucked into the genjutsu and held her breath. It had been such a long time since she'd been under the effects of the Sharingan that she was in shock. She took a step back narrowing her eyes and grabbed at her hip for her kunai pack which ended up not being there. She inwardly cussed scrunching up her nose and looked around the dark world. Two bright gleaming eyes caught her attention staring at her suddenly about a foot away. She tried to step back again and she couldn't. Houou felt a shiver run down her spine. It wasn't that Sasuke was scarier than Itachi by any means but she knew that if he filtered through the memories inside her head he would unleash a holy fury on her like no other enemy she'd come into contact with. Her hand subconsciously brushed over her stomach as he stared her down.

"Who are you?" he asked in a cold hard voice.

"Houou." She answered in a gentle tone.

"Houou what?" he snapped impatiently.

"Uzumaki."


	2. The First Truth

Sasuke stood a foot away from Houou watching her body language. She stared him down with those familiar aqua eyes and the same glare that Naruto often wore when they argued. He mentally made the addition to clothe her body more here in the jutsu and supplied her with pants that fell to her knees. She scrunched up her nose and defensively before taking another step back. This wasn't like Itachi's jutsu. Sasuke's wasn't as all-consuming or sense depriving. She could still feel her viable sense of self and had almost full consciousness here. She took a long breath as he followed her movements and came closer as she moved back. His eyes were boldly cold and bore into hers with an unyielding need to have answers. Houou knew that Sasuke would take the answers too. He wouldn't ask her nicely to hand over the story of who she was or how she had known Itachi; he would sift through them for himself.

"I believe that you are who you say you are…but I don't understand how you're alive." He said soundly. His brow furrowed as he thought about it.

"I can explain that." She said in return. He took another step forward and she tensed.

"I don't honestly care much for that back story at the moment. What I want to know is…" his words trailed off as his eyes skirted the glimmering silver necklace still clutched in her hand. She watched him for a long moment contemplating whether or not she wanted this to happen. Itachi had always cautioned her when it came to being honest with Sasuke. He'd often advised against him finding out the truth. He'd said her best bet had been to stay as far away from Konoha as possible to protect her own brother's life. This would throw a rather large wrench into that plan.

"I can explain that too…" she whispered but it was already too late for that. She felt the roughness of his fingers and thumb curl around her chin lifting her tiny framed face upwards to look at him. He connected their eyes here in his genjutsu.

"You don't have too. I can see for myself." And in the next instant she was thrown backwards into the past with Sasuke using her memories as a vessel.

_ Houou stood at the verge of a run-down building shaking. Her face felt numb, her legs ached, and her eyes were blurring from exhaustion. Her breathing hitched from her chest and she wrapped her arms tighter around her middle where the injury was. She felt blood seeping between her fingers even as she held herself tighter now. The air was hot and muggy but her body was losing heat. She wavered on her feet shivering and fell a side step to the right. Fighting to right her weight Houou didn't notice the figure standing on the porch of the home now. She just kept walking towards the pathway covered with small pebbles and accumulated dirt. The figure on the porch stilled in its movements as Houou stumbled again. She fell to her knees. The edges of her vision began to fade into darkness and her body was giving into the blood loss and exhaustion she'd fought so hard when she'd run. _

_ She'd run from the testing facility where Orochimaru had kept her for years. She'd barely made it out. He'd wanted to use her body as an open sacrifice to try summoning her brother's demon; the fox. He'd made it far enough to begin the sacrificial opening where her body would be ripped across the middle but she'd fought. He hadn't expected that. She'd been a dutiful obedient observer and participant for the most part living with him for many years of her life; mostly because he had offered her safety and refuge from those who'd have tortured and killed her if they'd known who she was. _

"_Kisame!" a voice had hissed coming down the stairs slowly. They neared her hesitantly. _

"_It's just a kid." The other male, blue to her surprise in skin tone, had answered the other. Houou flinched back and tried to get to her feet. She knew their cloaks had the prominent red swirling clouds that signified the Akatsuki. It wasn't good that she had wound up here this weak. _

"_Stop. You're injured." He ordered kneeling in front of her. She squeezed her eyes shut as the lithe boy trailed his hand down her side._

"_N-no…" she felt an instant pain from speaking ripple down her ribcage and her vision stirred again. It all went black._

_ Houou awoke with a splattering sickening cough raising her body up in the bed she laid in. She gripped her side heaving in the cold dank air her eyes dangerously wide. She took seconds to note her surroundings as she had often learned to do when Orochimaru left her alone with Kabuto. He'd move her from testing room to testing room and different lairs after she'd succumbed to the pain of the experiments. She'd pass out in one lair and awake in another. He thought that was a fun game. _

"_Well look Itachi, the brat's awake." Kisame spoke from where he sat on the edge of his bed cleaning his blade. It fidgeted and made a hissing noise as he spoke._

"_How are you feeling?" he asked the girl as she looked him over. He watched her scoot her position back against the headboard noting where the door and window were._

"_I'm fine." She said curtly. _

"_How is your side? It seems like it still hurts you some?" when she didn't answer Kisame chuckled._

"_Looks like she's scared." That earned him a heavy sarcastic glare from the girl. _

"_Screw off sharkman." She snapped without being able to stop herself. She didn't feel well and her head was still pounding like a thunderstorm. He raised an eyebrow and smirked. Itachi sighed rubbing the back of his neck._

"_Listen, ignore him please. How is your side? It might need to be redressed." She let her eyes for the first time return to the boy sitting in front of her on a chair. She noticed he was lithe and thin with long ebony hair locked back in a pony tail that flowed over his shoulder._

"_I'm alright. I've had worse." She shrugged looking down at the sheets over her legs. _

"_I have to ask." He said staring her over. "Who you are…you highly resemble someone that I met a long time ago." He'd dropped his voice down lower to a more serious tone._

"_I don't know if who I've been told I am is true." She answered truthfully. _

_ At that point in time Sasuke could feel the true sense of longing to belong in Houou's memory as she answered his brother. He could feel that she wasn't truly sure if she believed what Orochimaru had told her about her origin of birth. She was scared. She believed the Akatsuki would use or kill her. He felt the fear embedded within the thoughts lurking beneath her mind. Her hands gripped the sheets._

"_I'm willing to bet that I know who you might be." He answered her smiling gently. It had been that easy going smile he'd lazily given Sasuke on so many afternoons._

Sasuke pulled back from her memories for now. He was still shocked to feel the weight of seeing his brother alive through someone else's eyes. He watched as Houou shivered on her bed and swayed but refused to fall sideways. That he was impressed with. He'd had her caught in the genjutsu for a while sifting through a longer memory and she was still able to stay awake. She lifted a hand and shakily pushed her red strand of hair back tucking it in with the bright golden blond mess behind her ear. Her eyes were tired as she stared back at him.

"Satisfied?" she asked stubbornly that same bite coming back to her voice. He couldn't help but smirk.

"For now." He breathed out as her eyelids flitted before falling shut and her body gave out. Shikamaru watched as Sasuke caught her chest as she passed out and laid her back in the bed.

"We're bringing her with us." He said definitively.

"And what if that puts Naruto in danger like we heard her say earlier?" he quipped back.

"It won't. I can't imagine it would. Naruto's stronger than that and I'll protect him." He reassured him.

"Whatever. This is troublesome. It's on you if something bad happens." He warned the Uchiha.

"I'll take the chance." He smirked picking her up in his arms like a doll her head lulling against his chest.

"Of course you would." He snapped under his breath. "Nothing bothers you." Shikamaru let him go through the window before him and they were off on their way home to the village.

**Hello All! Please let me know what you think of this story! I would really like some feedback! Let me know what you think! Thanks!**

**C~**


	3. My Keeper

Houou felt the strange familiar tug of sleep as it began to fade away to wake. Her eyes fidgeted behind their lids as she let out a soft breath. Normally she'd bring her right arm up to her face and shove her unruly hair out of her eyes. However, when she tugged for her hand she found it constricted. Houou's eyes snapped open and she tried to jerk upright. Her teeth ground against one another when she couldn't move. There was a blazing white light focused over her head which blinded her at first. She sucked in air before growling and glaring pulling at the constraints again. Red. Houou saw red flash behind her eyes as she remembered that damned Uchiha before she'd passed out. This had to do with him. Shit. She knew this wasn't good. She hadn't imagined that he'd imprison her somewhere. She had to calm down to assess her surroundings. She could do this. She could be rational.

"It's probably best if you don't keep pulling at those." A calm voice spoke to her left. She huffed and released some of the tension building in her chest so that she could look in that direction. She was surprised to see a woman with rather large breasts staring at her intently. Her hair was in two long thick strands over her shoulders. Suddenly and with a great alarm of shock she saw the Hokage insignia on a binder she held. Her eyes grew wider. This couldn't be happening. That asshole had taken her directly into the village! No! NO! Naruto was in extreme danger.

"I have to go! You have to let me go!" she rushed out quickly pulling harder than before at the wrist and leg restraints.

"We cannot do that." Tsunade replied flatly.

"You HAVE to let me go!" she snapped now pulling harder. Her chest felt tight and her heart was burning quickly beneath her ribs.

"I don't like to repeat myself." She retorted in return. "Now, that's enough!" Houou felt her entire body jerk rigidly into a laying position.

"Got her." Another voice spoke. She couldn't see what was keeping her locked down but she had a guess that it was something to do with the Leaf's shadow possession jutsu wielders.

"Listen. I will make this short. We have to understand clearly who you are and where you came from. In order to do that we have to search through your memories if you are not willing to cooperate." She took a small breath nodding towards someone away from her. She felt movement come back to her body but chose to lay still.

"I can't be here. I will tell you, but I can't be here." She felt tears starting to form at the corners of her eyes. "Please…if Naruto gets hurt because of me…"

"We're outside of the village boundaries." She interrupted her suddenly. "Sasuke informed me of the details pertaining to Naruto's risk being near you so we took the precaution of taking the investigation unit with you outside of the village." Relief flooded her heart.

"What do you want to know?" she breathed out letting her body relax on the table.

"Start from the beginning." Houou sighed again.

"I don't have clear memories really before a certain point. It's a little jumbled." She took a breath. "It's probably better if you watch the memories than me telling you. I don't know if I can explain all of them correctly." She finished turning to face the Hokage again. She saw a man known as the Copy Ninja coming nearer to her side.

"This won't be unlike what Sasuke did to you before." She snorted rolling her eyes.

"I figured as much thank you." She replied.

"Also, there is a way for me to share this with one other person while having you under the jutsu." She nodded.

"Have at it." She shrugged on the table while she was constrained.

"Let's begin then." The last thing she saw was a swirling red eye hovering over her face.

_Houou sighed sitting on the rough stone chair in the basement of Orochimaru's newest lair. She squirmed impatiently receiving a small thwack to the top of her head. She scrunched up her nose agitated and crossed her arms over her chest. There was a needle imbedded in her arm while Kabuto ticked off markings on a checklist where he sat at a wooden desk across the room. There was constant beeping from the monitor hovering against the wall which she was connected to. Orochimaru stood behind her watching the monitor. He tugged at another strand of her hair braiding it back tightly from her face. She'd always had trouble keeping her hair out of her face and just earlier that morning the snake man had cut her bangs annoyed with not being able to see her eyes when he spoke to her. She shifted her weight again on the chair and got another tug to her braid now as it was finished and left to hang against the back of her neck._

"_You must learn to sit still." She made a snorting sound and bounced to her feet grinning up at the white skinned man. She was never deterred by his yellow eyes._

"_I'm hungry." She announced. Orochimaru's eyes twitched staring down at the small child. _

"_You cannot eat until after the test is complete." He watched her cherubic wide eyes crinkle as she frowned sticking her lower lip out._

"_But I'm hungry now!" she whined taking his hand in both of her small ones. She tugged gently at it standing up on her tiptoes. "Tuto' didn't let me eat since yesterday! He said I was being too loud!" she hugged his arm to herself burying her face in his hand. She'd hadn't been able to say Kabuto when she'd originally joined them at age three and so she'd adapted a nickname for him; Tuto'. _

"_You were being unbelievably loud and you wouldn't stop running around the lab. You can't behave you don't eat." He snapped from across the room eyeing her annoyed. _

"_You can't use food as a persuasion method with a toddler." Orochimaru sighed running a hand down his face._

"_Then take her with you from now on when you leave. I don't have time to babysit this runt." He glared at her. Orochimaru smirked when Houou turned around huffing and blew her tongue out at him while her little cheeks turned red._

"_You're a big stupid buttface." She yelled stepping back closer to the snake's legs. _

"_Houou." Orochimaru was trying not to laugh. "Please, use a proper name when insulting him." She glanced up at Orochimaru biting her lip for a moment. _

"_So I can call him an asshole?" she asked innocently. _

"_Yes. But just this once." He chided shaking his head as she turned around sticking her tongue out again smirking._

"_Asshole." She smart mouthed happily still holding Orochimaru's other hand. Kabuto nearly choked on the glass of water he'd sipped from._

"_Why are you letting her talk to me like that?" he asked incredulously._

"_Because I like her better than you. Now finish your work." He told him flatly and scooped up the little girl holding her on his hip. "I have food upstairs Houou." She wrapped her arms around his neck letting the strands of soft hair envelope her face._

"_Tank' you." She smiled closing her eyes as he removed the needle form her arm watching the monitor again. He smirked. _

"_Eventually you will be one of my strongest creations." _

Tsunade stared wide eyed after seeing what Kakashi had shown her through Houou's memories. Kakashi took a step back from the table staring perplexed down at the woman Sasuke had brought to them the night before. He was shocked to say the least. He'd searched for one of her most early memories only to find a clear intact one involving Orochimaru…and Orochimaru acting as a sort of father figure. Tsunade put a hand on the table behind herself trying to steady her movements. After all the ways she'd pictured Orochimaru in his testing facilities running from the ANBU she'd never pictured…never had she pictured…any sort of loving side to him. It was like looking backwards in a mirror to his innocent face when he was a child. But there had been the last comment he'd made to her as the memory had faded. He'd still seen her as an experiment…or at least it had seemed that way.

"She's out cold again. I took too long to process the memory." Kakashi said slightly apologetically.

"We'll talk through this when she wakes up. We need more answers."


End file.
